Sunday, June 20, 2010

Tartine's Pastry Cream

Recently, I took someone dinner and dessert.
Unbaked frozen tart dough sure comes in handy.

Last time I made mini tarts, I actually made the full amount of tart dough (Here is a great tutorial on making the tart dough) and pressed the dough that I didn't use into my large tart pan and put it into the freezer. When I needed it, all I had to do was pop it in the oven and bake it.

Since there are so many fruits that are in season right now, I decided that I would make a basic pastry cream and top the tart with fruit.
I remembered that Bridget mentioned Tartine's recipe for pastry cream, which uses whole eggs instead of just egg yolks and I wanted to try it.
I found the recipe here and gave it a try.
This pastry cream was so silky and smooth. Using whole eggs in the pastry cream lightened up the texture. It was still thick, but just lighter than pastry creams made with only egg yolks.

Plus, I didn't have to add to the 13 egg whites I already have in the freezer.

I decorated the tart with kiwis, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.
I glazed it with this peach spreadable fruit, which I warmed for a few seconds in the microwave with a splash of water.

Tartine's Pastry Cream
2 cups whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, cut open down the middle, seeded
1/4 tsp of salt
4 Tbls cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
4 Tbls butter, cut in small cubes

Heat the milk, vanilla seeds and salt in a pan and put over medium heat, and bring to a boil.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch and eggs until smooth. Slowly add 1/2 of the milk mixture into the egg and whisk constantly to temper them. Add the remaining milk and return the whole thing to the saucepan.
Cook until you get a thick consistency, whisking non-stop.
Remove from heat and pour into a bowl, let cool for 10 minutes and then incorporate the butter, one tablespoon at a time, until smooth .
Cover the surface with plastic wrap, directly touching the cream, let cool completely in the refrigerator.


9 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear lord I see teh vanilla in there! I bet it was delicious

Alisa-Foodista said...

Fruits and pastries are the best!I love the colors!

Bridget said...

Oh yeah, that reminds me that I was planning to make more pastry cream so I could put the recipe in my blog. I'm glad you found it somewhere and enjoyed the recipe as much as I do!

~~louise~~ said...

Your pastry cream looks lovely Mary Ann as does that tart. I'd love to try this someday soon.

Thanks for sharing...

BTW, Mary Ann, we're playing the Picnic Game again this year on my blog. We'd love to have you play:) Here's the link for info.

Eliana said...

Loving the flecks of vanilla bean in that cream. Looks so delicious.

Delicious Dishings said...

That is such a beautiful tart, and that pastry cream does look much lighter (texture and color) than the usual ones. I bet it's delicious!

Unknown said...

yuuuuuuum. looks fabulous!

Anonymous said...

EXCELLENT! Best Pastry Cream that I've ever tasted. Made it for a birthday tart. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

My Dad loves his custard tarts and told me about this recipe, it was his favourite, now it's my favourite too :)